Sunday, 24 August 2014

OVER THE WALL

Proteo
were formed in Trieste in 1996 by Marco Paulica (rhythm guitars,
vocals), Matteo Copetti (lead guitar, sax), Alessandro Surian (bass)
and Fabio Gorza (drums, percussion) and along the years the line up
has always remained the same. The name of the band refers to a small
animal called olm or proteus (proteus anguinus) that lives in
the caves of the Karst plateau and that is best known for its
adaptations to a life of complete darkness in its underground
habitat. In some way it reflects the style of the band, a curious mix
of pop rock and progressive rock influences.

After some demos and a
good live activity on the local scene, in 2009 Proteo released a
debut album on the independent label Ma.Ra.Cash Records, Under A
Red Polar Light, featuring eight
well crafted original tracks where dreamy melodies and bright touches
of musical colours unfurl avoiding banality. Although the overall
sound every now and again draws on eighties atmospheres and could
recall bands such as The Police, U2 or Talk Talk, the band
successfully managed to blend these influences with a prog attitude
and personal touch.

The
opener “Colors To Give” is a kaleidoscope of images and emotions
that flashes out eighties atmospheres and walks on the moon while the
following “Eternity” takes you up and down through time and
space, between heart and mind, where the streets have no name and
eternity fades away dancing on Latin rock rhythms. Then comes the
dreamy “Australia”, that reminds me slightly of Men At Work or
Crowded House and conjures up images from the Lucky Country. The
title of the following “Tales From The Ocean” could recall Yes
but here the tales from the ocean are not topographic at all and the
waves move gently in a controlled flow while the music and lyrics
evoke nights on a beach blessed by the moonlight.

“Van
Gogh” is another dreamy track that tries to take you a million
miles away, under deep blue skies. As you can guess, it was inspired
by the work of the famous post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh and leads to the
spacey “Robota”, featuring short lyrics inspired by the work of
Isaac Asimov. Then it's the turn of “I Wish I Could Fly”, a piece
full of positive energy. The last track “Echoes Mankind (Part I)”
is more complex and describes in music and words silent weapons in a
time where war and peace seemed to play to hide and seek. Well, all
in all this is a good album if you like AOR but the progressive
influences here are mild and prog fans risk to be a bit
disappointed...

Proteo's
second album, “Republikflucht! …Facing East” was
released in 2013 on Ma.Ra.Cash Records and in my opinion is more
refined and mature if compared with its predecessor. Here the
song-writing is bolder and the music, yet still rooted in eighties
pop rock forms, perfectly fits the concept and helps to take you back
in time. In fact, according to an interview with the band, this is a
concept album inspired by books such as Anna Funder's C'era una
volta la Ddr or Ryszard Kapuscinsky's Imperium,
it's a reflection about the cold war and a way to look over the ruins
of the Berlin Wall, facing East. A fatherland with a hand of fire and
another hand of snow that hurts your heart when you try to embrace
it, as sings Wolf Biermann in one of his best lieder. Well, here the
music is a far cry from Wolf Biermann's but it successfully
contributes to set the right atmosphere while the lyrics do not try to
tell a story but just draw evocative images focusing on the hopes and feelings of
the common people rather than on politics.

The
opener “Echoes Mankind (Part II)” is a sequel of the last
track on Proteo's debut album and depicts military plants and barbed
wire along the border, a barrack-like homeland where people are kept
as prisoners without consciousness, where bureaucracy rules but where
there's still room for hope and where in spite of everything flowers
can still break the ice. Next comes the long, complex “Berlin”, a
surreal musical painting of a city that could resemble to a museum of
modern art and where the free sky is blotted out by disquieting grey
clouds. Then the dreamy “Eastern Fields” follows drawing images
of a farmland on the edge of time where you risk to get lost in your
thoughts, facing east, far away from home...

The
lively “Funny Girls Playing Double Dutch” is the shortest track
on the album and describes some innocent children merrily playing in
a courtyard, unconscious of their destiny and scrutinized by men
wearing uniforms. “Four-leaf Clover” is another long track
dealing with feelings such as faith, hope and love under the iron curtain. “Republikflucht”
concludes the album with a come back from this strange trip through
time and space leading to mysterious and shadowy places, over fake
theories and disused liturgies, underneath lost memories and black
and white pictures.

All
in all this is a very good album. Through the distillation of a
myriad of influences Proteo have achieved a singular sound and if you
like modern progressive rock with a melodic approach, you really have
to check this album out.